A Flighty Fake Boyfriend (Men of St. Nachos #2) - Z.A. Maxfield Page 0,14

guarded the fairy-tale castle we’d seen from the highway. It was made up of four drawbridges that spun on a wheel. You had to get your timing perfect in order for your ball to go between them.

I started to swing. Epic shouted, “Quiet on the green, please.” And I missed my shot.

He laughed like a troll then spoke through his cupped hand, “While the game is not on the line here, Ryan Winslow is still looking for a personal best on this hole.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Look at the concentration on his face. That’s the look of a champion right there. He’s seen what he needs to do. He lines up his shot…”

I did it. It only took me about twelve tries. My ball swirled around the green and landed about three inches away from the cup. I tapped it in.

“It’s over, right?” I asked. “Please tell me it’s over.”

“It’s over when I say it’s over,” Epic held his putter like a rifle. “You don’t stand a chance, puny human. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.”

Every goddamn eye in the place was on us as he laughed maniacally.

“The castle is mine!”

Like a man freed from that prison he mentioned, I stared at the sky. A few little mare’s tail clouds drifted in from the ocean. I smelled plumeria on the breeze along with the bright verdant scent of ornamental grasses and chlorine from the park’s water features.

Epic might have had a point. Mini-golf is full of life lessons.

There was a place to drop off our putters and balls.

“Food.” Epic turned toward the snack shack, but I maneuvered him out of the park with the promise of a nice lunch at a restaurant with a bar. At the car, I rested my back against the sun-hot metal of the driver’s side door and took out my smokes.

Epic eyed me. “You really need to do that?”

“For now? Yes.”

“Why? Are you that nervous about this wedding?”

“I’m not real comfortable with the invite, but that’s not why I smoke.”

He mirrored me, leaning against the car and looking up, watching each exhaled smoke cloud waft away. “So I’m assuming you’re not in the wedding.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, you wouldn’t be in a wedding you were uptight about, would you? Unless your sister was marrying someone you hate. Or your mom. Who’s getting married?”

“My ex.”

“Ooooh.” He winced. “It’s totally reasonable to get uptight over that.”

“I’m not uptight. I said I’m uncomfortable.”

“Okay, let’s break that down. Who broke up with whom?”

I bit back the reply that it was none of his business. “It was a mutual decision.”

“Actually mutual? Or like, you can’t fire me because I quit.”

“Okay, it was mostly mutual.” I took another drag. “I work a lot.”

“So?”

“So, I was dating the billionaire scion of a Spanish noble family, and he liked everything to revolve around him.”

Epic widened his eyes. “Meow.”

“Yeah, well. I’m probably a tiny bit bitter.”

“Isn’t it weird he invited you to his wedding?”

I took another drag on the cigarette. “Yes.”

“So you think, what, he just wants to rub your nose in the fact he’s marrying someone else?”

“I don’t know what there is to rub my nose in. He’s a catch. The guy probably loves him.”

“And you’re going to prove you aren’t drowning in despair over the loss, right?”

“I never drowned. It’s been years since we were together.”

“How many?”

“Six”

“That’s a lot of years.”

“Enough to find his one true love, I guess.” For me the time had gone by so quickly I’d barely had time to get used to the idea he wasn’t around.

“You have to walk that bitterness back, Ryan, or he’s going to smell it all over you.”

“I know.” I stubbed out my cigarette and opened the car door. “Mount up. We’re not far from the hotel.”

“Isn’t it still a little early?”

“The room should be ready. It will be by the time we’ve eaten lunch.”

“Okay.” When we were both inside the car and buckled up, he said, “You know, I don’t mind if we have to share a bed.”

I glanced at him. “You don’t?”

“No. I thought about it a lot, and I figure if you were supposed to come here with a date, you probably don’t have a room with two beds.”

“I see.” I started the engine and left the lot, making my way south toward the hotel.

“Yeah, so I wanted you to know it’s fine. As long as it’s a king-size because I need my space.”

“We have two beds.”

“Oh.” He sighed. “Okay.”

Was that disappointment? “The date I was going to bring is a